The Power of Skills: A Journey to Becoming a Renowned Community Mechanic

Emmanuel Matunge, a motorcycle mechanic at his garage in Doldol trading centre in Shulmai Community Conservancy. Photo| Karen Mugambi|MashinaniWORKS.

Emmanuel Matunge had many reasons to give up on his dreams, but he did not. For him, it was either this challenge or the other.

At some point, the 34-year-old, popularly known in his hometown in Laikipia North as ‘Fundi Emmanuel’, was forced to drop out of secondary school, while in Form One. Reason? His parents could not raise his school fees. This saw him momentarily discontinue his secondary education as his dream of becoming an engineer appeared to fade. And for the next three years, Emmanuel was out of school, resorting to helping his parents at home.

But when another opportunity presented itself, Emmanuel went back to Form One, completing his secondary education in 2014. Born into a humble family, Emmanuel quickly learned that life can be unpredictable. Financial challenges often meant that his dreams took a backseat as he fought for survival.

For Emmanuel, gaining an education was a precious opportunity that did not come easily. When he got an opportunity to go back to school, his desire to become an engineer also grew.

Completing secondary education was not easy for Emmanuel in the face of all the challenges his humble family faced. But the sense of accomplishment, when he sat his final Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, was real. Achieving the fete elated him, and he believed that he could actually achieve anything he set his mind on. In his own words, the feeling of accomplishment, when he completed Form Four, was profound.

Being a Maasai Moran, giving up was not in his vocabulary even though everything around him suggested otherwise. Morans are young men from the Maasai community who are trained as warriors to protect their societies. The young men, between the ages of 14 to 30, are normally drilled to be brave, among other things. It is the “never give up” attitude of a Maasai Moran that has partly kept Emmanuel going. Emmanuel was raised to uphold the values of strength and dependability.

Emmanuel Matunge, a motorcycle mechanic at work in Doldol trading centre in Shulmai Community Conservancy. Photo| Karen Mugambi|MashinaniWORKS.

After school, Emmanuel turned to sand harvesting along the riverbeds of Laikipia North. That is how he earned his livelihood, for the next three years, after completing his secondary education.

Emmanuel worked tirelessly, alongside a team of sand harvesters, as they filled truck after truck with sand. The pay was based on the number of trucks they managed to fill, and it was never enough.

It was a grueling job. However, being the warrior he is, Emmanuel did not give up. He managed to save up enough money and bought a motorcycle. This ushered him into the well-known bodaboda business. The shift saw him grow his income. He was also able to support his family, even though this introduced new challenges.

As Emmanuel would learn, owning a motorcycle and understanding how it works were two different things. There was this one day that will forever remain etched in his mind. His bike broke down, and after the mechanic he called to fix it was done, he slapped him with a bill of KES 2,000. Now, that was not the saddest part. Emmanuel would later discover that it was just a minor problem that could have been fixed at the cost of not more than KES 100. The mechanic had obviously taken advantage of him. The cost of the repair would have been zero if he had the simple skill himself.

This incident haunted him for a long time. He wished never to go through the same experience again. One day, Emmanuel was drawn to a message in a WhatsApp group about Ujuzi Manyattani, a mobile vocational training program that was being steered by MashinaniWORKS, to deliver locally relevant vocational skills training for the youth. The programme was meant to help the young people acquire practical, vocational skills without necessarily disrupting their normal daily activities.

The idea of learning motorcycle repair and maintenance became necessary; thanks to the bad experience he had gone through in the hands of a ‘greedy’ mechanic. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and this was true for Emmanuel, who joined the program, ostensibly to learn how to become a mechanic.

And over a period of three months, Emmanuel from Shulmai Community Conservancy sat under a trainer who ensured every lesson was hands-on and easy to grasp. He also spent extra hours at a nearby garage to practice what he had learned at the institution.

And because the program was delivered within their community, it allowed Emmanuel, and other trainees, to balance learning with their other daily activities, including family responsibilities. In June 2024, Emmanuel graduated from the program and started his own motorcycle repair and maintenance business at a local shopping center.

Emmanuel did not even have the capital to start his business. He set up his business at a local bodaboda shed. All he had were some tools he had learnt how to use during his training. In no time, Emmanuel’s reputation started growing. He would soon become the go-to mechanic in town.

Today, Emmanuel is a happy man. While he may not have everything, he needs and desires just yet, to a large extent, his days of struggling financially are behind him, thanks to the mechanics course he took at Ujuzi Manyattani. He can feed his family and educate his children, who are pupils at a local private school.

On average, Emmanuel makes around KES 1,300 in a day. On Fridays, the town’s market day, he makes as much as KES 7,000 as many customers seek his services.

Emmanuel recently obtained a loan of KES 25,000 from Rangelands SACCO, with funding support from Fauna and Flora, under the Darwin Initiative through the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), to establish his business. He was among the 31 Ujuzi Manyattani graduates from four NRT member community conservancies — Shulmai, Maiyanat, Naibunga Upper and Il Ngwesi, who received KES 875,000 startup funding, creating opportunities for diversified livelihoods. With entrepreneurship and financial literacy training he has received, he’s managing his money wisely. He is perfecting the art of record keeping. Emmanuel also offers flexible payment plans to clients, which has seen him attract more business. He is also saving money consistently.

Looking ahead, Emmanuel has big dreams for the future. He plans to open an auto spares shop to meet the increasing demand for motorcycle spare parts and services in his community. He also hopes to advance his knowledge in automotive repair, to expand his skillset beyond motorcycles.